Custom-Built Corn-Burning Stoves

Custom-Built Corn-Burning Stoves ENERGY Corn Burning Soves 28-6-32 When Roger Erickson got fed up with the high cost of heating his shop, he built a stove that burned corn. It worked so well he has custom-built and sold another 14 stoves. "Why farmers aren't burning corn, I just don't understand," says Erickson, shaking his head. "If you have a dryer, just dry 300 bushels down to 13 percent, and you have a great fuel." Even buying the corn retail makes sense to him. This past year, he built a corn stove with a boiler unit for a 3,600-sq. ft. house that was kept at 78 degrees all winter. The stove cost the homeowner $5,000 and he burned 330 bushels of corn. "He thought I was a hero," says Erickson. "His propane bill for previous winters ran $900/month. Now it costs him less than a month's fuel for the entire season." Erickson's stove and corn hoppers are housed in look-a-like cabinets. Each unit stands 24 in. wide by 38 in. deep and 48 in. high. An auger from the 8-bu. storage unit feeds about 2 bu. each day into the aluminum cast firepot in the stove unit. A fan on a thermostat controls the rate of burn. Once the stove is lit, maintenance while needed is minimal. "If you burn clean 13 percent corn and spend about 5 min. a day on the stove, it will be trouble free, "says Erickson. "If you use 15 percent moisture or higher field corn, you'll have problems, like the firepot filling up with clinkers." Cleaning out the stove is easy thanks to a large access front door and an ash drawer. Each bushel of corn produces enough ash to fill a 5-lb. sugar bag. "You can tie into existing duct work in a house or just blow the heat into the air in a shop like mine," says Erickson. "The fellow who bought the boiler put it in the basement and just tied into the existing boiler lines." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Roger Erickson, Erickson Machine, 1114 East 4th

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